As mentioned above, we averaged the usual dairy/milk consumption reported at the beginning and at the end of the interval to estimate the usual dairy consumption within each exam interval.
To estimate the usual dairy and milk products consumption within each exam interval, we averaged the usual intake reported at the beginning and at the end of the interval.
The average intake of total energy and food groups (i.e. fish, meat, whole grain, refined grain, alcohol, caffeine coffee and fruits and vegetables), as well as the average DGAI score within each exam interval, were also estimated in a similar way as described above.
We used repeated-measure regression (PROC MIXED) to examine the longitudinal association between dairy consumption and annualised change in SBP and DBP within exam intervals across the follow-up.
Then the survival time pdfs of the exam-diagnosed, interval and control cases are the mixtures, and, respectively.
Survival distributions for exam-diagnosed, interval, and control cases are assumed to be conditional on the stage at diagnosis and treatment, but are not dependent on the mode of diagnosis.
The LZ model assumes k stages, ϕ s (j), ϕ i (j) and ϕ c (j) represent the probability of being diagnosed at stage j, j = 1,..., k for exam-diagnosed, interval and control cases, respectively, and f j (t| z + τ) is the probability density function (pdf) of survival time t among subjects who would have been clinically diagnosed at stage j in the absence of screening.
Four examinations have been carried out at three-year intervals (exam 1, 1987–1989; exam 2, 1990 1992; exam 3, 1993 1995; exam 4, 1996 1998), and subjects are contacted annually to update their medical histories between examinations.
Adding up the cumulative probabilities of dying in any of these four situations, one obtains the probability that a diagnosed case dies after y years of having started the study: Similarly to cases detected by exams, one can estimate the probability I r (y| z) of being diagnosed in the r interval between exams (t r -1, t r ) and dying y years after the start of the study.
In the interval between exams there were no FP and all the women with BC diagnosed during the interval would undergo a non-invasive plus an invasive test.
We surveyed for student study partnerships after each exam, spread at semiregular intervals throughout the term (weeks 3, 5, 8, and 10).
